Wicked3938 wrote:
>> Do Alan and Alison like anyone? I've been reading this newsgroup for a
> couple of weeks, trying to learn more about gardening, but the foremost
> thing I've learned is that you can expect one of the two and probably both
> to be rude and obnoxious to someone who says or does something they don't
> like, wherever they are from. Since I'm interested in gardening and not
> spiteful name calling, I'm signing off this newsgroup. To those who have
> stood up to the two holy terrors....Good for you!!!! Bye to all and good
> riddance to the two a------s.
>> Charmaine
Hello Charmaine,
I would be the last person to defend the boorish, rude and offensive
behaviour of these two (and other) individuals, especially since they
shoot to kill at the smallest provocation (even when the provocation was
not badly-intended), but then fail to use (as far as I was able to see
during my visits to date) their prodigiously noisy arsenal against those
who really deserve it: Spammers.
Nevertheless, there is a fine point to all this you may have missed (not
that it excuses the conduct), which you should consider before leaving
bionet.plants:
The posts from these individuals was originally intended primarily for
the ears of uk.rec.gardening viewers, but it spilled over into this and
other newsgroups, who probably could have done without the hoo-ha. This
is what happened that gave rise to this thread:
Someone contributed a post several days ago, requesting assistance in
identifying a plant, and included a fairly large binary image attachment
with the post. The post was submitted to four separate newsgroups,
including uk.rec.gardening and this one (bionet.plants). What people who
haven't yet ventured into uk.rec.gardening may not realize, is that the
atmosphere in that newsgroup is....well....lets just say it is a bit
strict. I wont go into it here except to say that there are rigid (yet
paradoxically fairly nebulous) rules relating to topic focus and other
items (bitmap posting, for example, but this is true of many other
groups as well) which you must comply with or face abuse of a fairly
shocking nature. Everyone across usenet believes in Netiquette, but this
group __enforces__ their own brand with a vigour, fierceness, and
vindictive viciousness that takes your breath away. The justification
for this is that uk.rec.gardening understandably wants very much to
preserve its British-only focus, and avoid becoming "overwhelmed" (not
my word) by Americans (and others, but primarily Americans) with
American issues and American problems. Ironically, I support this
motive, although not the reaction and behaviour enforcing it. If you
visit that newsgroup, be excrutiatingly careful about anything you say
(especially if your email address doesn't end in "uk") and in fact, it
is recommended by Mr. Holmes himself that newcomers lurk quietly for an
extended period of time, observing the application of often confusing
standards, before contributing a post.
Anyhow, I have digressed to explain the background. The original post in
this thread created a small bombshell in uk.rec.gardening. Abuse against
the posting individual (who really had no ill intent, but just made an
error in netiquette) began to fly almost immediately at the escalated
levels one has come to expect from that group. But because the original
post had been cross-posted to other newsgroups, this abuse was seen in
these newsgroups as well, even though they may not share the gleeful
disciplinary tendencies of uk.rec.gardening.
So you see, there is no need to leave bionet.plants because of events
stemming from circumstances in uk.rec.gardening. This thread certainly
had little to do with bionet.plants, and it is unfortunate that the
responsive posts in the uk.rec.gardening newsgroup were bounced into
this group. In any event, it pretty much looks like the controversy has
finally settled down, and you are unlikely to have to see this sort of
behaviour again. There is a chance either or both of the individuals you
mention (or others who sympathise with their approach) may respond to
your closing post (or even to this post I am submitting) with their
inimitable style and flair here in bionet.plants. They are very
protective of their newsgroup, and will possibly try to correct any
inaccuracies in what I have said here (although I made a strong effort
to relay accurate information), and defend uk.rec.gardening's content
and atmosphere with their usual caustic reparte. I stand by what I say
here, but they will unfortunately view this post as an attack on
uk.rec.gardening, rather than, as I intend, as a commentary on its
current atmosphere.
Anyhow, if you ignore their responsive postings, I'm sure you can resume
your productive relationship with bionet.plants again.
Regards,
David Deutsch